• New Academic Mentorship MIG Already 95 Members Strong

    Explore the Latest Addition to the AAFP Member Interest Group Lineup

    October 19, 2018, 04:00 pm News Staff – Heads up family docs -- there's a new MIG on the block. That's short for member interest group, a concept the AAFP launched back in 2014 at the request of family physician members who desired a forum where they could connect and share ideas about specific professional topics.

    community membership concept

    In July, the AAFP Board of Directors approved the creation of the latest MIG: a group dedicated to academic mentorship. It's the 16th such group created by and for Academy members.

    MIG members in all professional areas not only network with like-minded colleagues but are able to, among other things, suggest AAFP policy, provide feedback on AAFP policies and positions when requested, and undertake professional leadership development within the AAFP.

    The academic membership MIG, chaired by Jaividhya Dasarathy, M.D., of Cleveland, and overseen by the Commission on Education, already has recruited 95 members.

    Kelley Withy M.D., Ph.D., of Kailua, Hawaii, is vice chair of the MIG, and Maren Dunn Chandler, D.O., of Big Sky, Mont., serves as secretary.

    Members of the MIG strive to spotlight academic medicine as a vibrant career choice, provide mentorship opportunities that will enable interested members to learn from family physicians already working in academics, and develop collaborative academic activities between MIG members.

    Long-term goals include

    • supporting the professional development of MIG members who seek to attain academic promotions, and
    • providing career guidance for members who want to focus on a specific area in academic family medicine, such as women's health, geriatrics or palliative care.

    Sound like folks you'd like to hang with? Visit the community online, sign up with a simple click on the "Join Community" button, and you're ready to start making connections with like-minded family physicians.

    It's also easy to shop around and explore other MIGS. Join as many of these additional MIGs as you'd like:

    • adolescent health,
    • breastfeeding medicine,
    • community health,
    • direct primary care,
    • emergency medicine/urgent care,
    • global health,
    • hospital medicine,
    • independent solo/small group practice,
    • lifestyle medicine,
    • oral health,
    • point-of-care ultrasound,
    • reproductive health care,
    • rural health,
    • single payer health care and
    • telehealth.